Failure to Reduce Speed Truck Accidents

Large trucks, particularly 18 wheel trucks, are much more difficult to stop than cars. The heavier the truck, the greater the distance required to stop to avoid a truck accident. When truck drivers fail to realize the distance needed to stop, the risk of a rear-end truck collision increases. Adding to the problem, big rig trucks are also more difficult to maneuver.

Rear end accidents are one of the least likely types of car accidents to cause serious injury. But every truck crash puts the occupants of a car at gave risk and a rear end collision is no exception. Besides the great force involved given the size of these big rig truck, there is another problem if the car is the rear ending vehicle: the impact point of a tall trailer is right in the windshield of your typical car. These are often tragic and fatal cases.

This type of accident, known as an underride, can sometimes be avoided if the truck has an underride guard rail for protection. But not every truck has this protection and this safety device is still not reliable. The reality is trucking companies are not doing what they should be doing to solve this problem and the result is people are dying.

Not surprisingly, rear-end truck crashes in Maryland occur more frequently on divided roads than other truck accidents because the truck driver has less options to maneuver the truck to avoid the crash (an estimated 45% according to one study on truck accidents as opposed to 32% of truck accidents that were not rear-end crashes). Nationally, about 1 in 6 of the 400,000 truck crashes we have annually in this country are rear end collision cases.

Rear end truck accidents in Maryland are far more likely to also involve multiple vehicles. The size, weight, and difficulty in maneuvering trucks often leads to other vehicles being brought into the accident. The formation of truck convoys, which truckers often form on long trips, also contributes to the large number of multi-vehicle rear end truck accidents.

Getting a Lawyer for Your Claim

Miller & Zois knows how to put these cases in a position to win and get you the money you deserve for the tragedy you have endured. If you have been involved in a truck rear-end collision, call our Maryland truck accident attorneys at 1-800-553-8082 or click here.

We serve the following localities: Baltimore; Prince George's County including Bowie, Laurel, Landover, Hyattsville; Anne Arundel County including Glen Burnie; Baltimore County including Cockeysville, Glyndon, Hunt Valley, Jacksonville, Lutherville-Timonium, Owings Mills, Parkville, Reisterstown, and Towson; Carroll County including Westminster; Frederick County including Frederick; Harford County including Abingdon, Bel Air, Belcamp, and Forest Hill; Montgomery County including Germantown and Rockville; Howard County including Ellicott City and Columbia, Washington, D.C. and Washington County including Hagerstown.